Preparing for an International Trip with Kids - 2 Weeks out from Thailand!

We pull back the curtain on the unseen work of family travel and share how we’re prepping for two weeks in Thailand with three kids, seven flights, and one last-minute work trip. Points, packing, meds, and mindset—all simplified into four clear buckets you can reuse.

• why Thailand matters to us and how points make it possible
• building one master spreadsheet for flights, hotels and transfers
• mapping seven flights and overnight layovers with backups
• hotel lessons on connecting rooms and nonrefundable rates
• Thailand medication rules, doctor letters and refills
• digital arrival form timing and annual travel insurance
• choosing eSIMs, Grab and simple phone setup
• packing light for heat, shoes to prevent blisters, plan for laundry
• setting kids’ expectations for a 17-hour flight
• using food videos to build buy-in and reduce friction
• embracing fewer bookings to protect rest and flexibility
• what’s next on the podcast and how to join us

Send me a DM on Instagram if you want to come on the podcast to talk about a recent family trip, even if it was part points and part cash

Transcript

Setting The Stage: Why Thailand

SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you've ever taken your family on an international trip, then you know that the one or two weeks before you leave is always incredibly busy. So today I'm taking you along as I walk through how we are prepping and planning for our Thailand trip as we leave in two weeks. So listen in. Hi, I'm Rhea.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

And I'm Dwayne.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

So if you're wanting to travel more with your family, but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

So welcome to our podcast where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.

Our Family Travel Mission

The Unseen Work Before Departure

Juggling Birthdays And A Work Trip

Points, Miles, And Trip Funding

Why This Trip Matters Personally

Building The Master Travel Spreadsheet

Flight Map And Layovers Explained

Hotel Hiccups And Connecting Rooms

Nonrefundable Rates And Hard Lessons

Medication Rules And Documents For Thailand

SPEAKER_01 1:26

And I realized that this is the part that people don't really see or talk about, right? Because it's not like the fun trip recap and it's not the hotel recap. It's like all the stuff that comes beforehand. And I feel like that's not talked about enough. It's just like, oh yeah, we're leaving tomorrow and then poof, we're on this magical vacation. But no one is like talking about, especially when you are a family traveler, no one is talking about the amount of work that has gone into the planning and the preparation and making sure you have everything that you need before you go and visas if needed and all that fun stuff. So I am in the middle of this right now for our Thailand trip, which is coming up very quickly in literally less than two weeks. And I kind of thought, why don't I just kind of talk through all the things that I'm thinking about, all the things that I'll be doing? And we've got a few like extra wrenches in the plan, so to speak. And I'll talk about those, um, including a work trip that popped up for me literally right before we leave. And so it's a little bit of mass chaos over here. Um, and for a little bit of behind the scenes information, so we all three of our kids have birthdays in a 57-day period from the end of December to kind of like mid-February. And we just literally today wrapped up our daughter's sixth birthday party. And she has the last of the three birthdays. So we have a December, a January, and a February. And I feel like I can finally take a breath for like maybe 24 hours because birthday season is over. We've done it, we've done the gifts, the cakes, the parties, all the whole nine yards. And now it's like, okay, now it's almost vacation time, except we've got two weeks to go. And I have a work trip that popped up literally the week that we leave. So I will now be on a work trip in Texas from Monday through Thursday. And then we leave Friday night of that same week for two weeks in Thailand. So that is a little bit unexpected. I'm kind of treating this next week as like my the week before we go because I won't be here the following week. And I'm going to come back on a Thursday afternoon or night. Hopefully, my flight is not delayed, and then literally turn around and get on a plane less than 24 hours later. So that feels like a lot to me. I will basically be gone from home for two or no, for three weeks. That also feels like a lot. So I'm gonna talk through kind of a few different buckets of things that I am thinking through and planning through and making sure are done before we leave. Um, and I'm also gonna talk about a few hiccups that have have seemed to have arose based on the way I originally planned this trip. So let's dive in. If you are new here and are maybe just thinking about planning an international trip, um I think that this will be helpful for you because we're going to Thailand, but I really think that a lot of these things can be exacerbated out and used for any trip, whether it's really even if it's international or not. And if you're specifically looking for information on Thailand, I do have some information on our trip that I shared in the episode maybe a month ago or so, where I talked about our 2026 travel and I shared about how we've kind of pieced together the edit credits from the Chase Sapphire Reserve along with Hyatt Points and some AMX offers to get this trip cobbled together with part cash and part points. And so if you're curious or planning a Thailand trip, I would recommend going back and listening to that episode. Um, and then of course, once we get back, we will have several um podcast episodes with like trip recaps. So there will be, I think, at least three because we're going to three different spots in Thailand and then maybe more just depending on timing. And lastly, I will share that this Thailand trip is extra special to me because and I have shared this maybe once before on the podcast, and I will probably say it again as we get to our trip recaps after we get back. But Thailand and Southeast Asia was a place that I had planned to visit before I found out that I was pregnant with my oldest son. And of course, you know, as things do, when you find out you're expecting a baby, like your whole life changes. And so Thailand and Southeast Asia got put way on the back burner. And so the fact that now, you know, 12, really 13 years later from me having that dream, I am now able to not only go to Thailand myself, but to take my husband and my three kids along with us, you know, partially thanks to points and miles, is a like is something that it is not lost on me, and I'm incredibly grateful for it. And I just share that because I think if you are again new or maybe not new and you know points and miles, and and you're just kind of feeling like, man, I wish I could do that. Like, you can. There's nothing special about us. Like, we just I play this points and miles thing like a game, and I have a lot of fun with it. And you could absolutely, you know, do this if you have a similar story or a similar, similar place that you want to go. So that is the answer to why Thailand and why this trip is a little bit extra special to me specifically. And so as we go through the next two weeks, um, here are the things that I'm gonna be doing to make sure that we have a successful trip and also a few things that I'm not gonna be doing because I think that like sometimes, and I know this is true for me and a lot of people, if you're type A like I am, there are like you want to know and plan every minute and every second, and you want to have all the things that you could possibly need, you know, when you're on this trip. And I've kind of just learned over the years of traveling with kids that it's not always necessary. So we'll talk about that too. The first thing that I did the other day is I sat down and this took me a couple of hours, and I was dreading it because I knew it was gonna take me a long time. I made a spreadsheet with all of our hotel information, uh, booking confirmation numbers, reservation dates, same thing for any transportation I have booked, you know, confirmation numbers, who it's booked through, pickup times, dates, all of that. And I did the same thing for our flights. We have flights there and back, obviously, but we also have flights in Thailand two different times. So, really, it's um four flights plus two positioning flights. So it's six flights altogether. We'll fly from Phoenix to San Francisco, then we'll fly San Francisco to Singapore. I'm sorry, it's seven flights. So Phoenix to San Francisco, stay overnight. San Francisco to Phuket, no, no, no. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Phoenix to San Francisco, stay overnight, San Francisco to Singapore, stay overnight, Singapore to Phuket, then we'll be in Phuket for a few days, then Phuket to Coosamui, we'll be there for a few days, then Cousamui to Bangkok, we'll be there for a few days, then the flight home goes from Bangkok to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong back to San Francisco. That is one ticket, the Bangkok to San Francisco, but then we have another flight home on American Airlines, that is uh San Francisco to Phoenix. So it's a lot. That's like maybe, maybe it's even, I don't know, seven or eight flights. So I have all of those confirmation numbers, um, dates, times, arrival times, whether or not it's an overnight layover. I have a hotel booked for our overnight layover, right? Plus all all of our regular hotels. And so that's just a lot of information to keep track of. And in theory, I would have done this as I booked it, but I did not. So learn from my lesson. And as you book things, you know, make a spreadsheet and fill it out. I can share like a template, I guess, in the show notes, maybe. Um, but I don't know. I mean, it's very basic. It literally has a section for hotels, a section for flights, a section for transportation, uh, and then like notes if needed. So I'll I I'll I'll see if I can figure it out easily enough to put it in the show notes, but if not, just make your own. It's not that hard. Um, but the reason that I wanted this all in one place, besides just organization and being able to access it when we're on the go, if I need it, is that I needed to email all of our hotels and see if I could confirm connecting rooms. And this is where one of the hiccups has occurred. I'm gonna call it a hiccup. So we're staying at three different hotels. The first one is where I use the edit credits, it's it's an IHG property. And I don't have any, I mean, I have like platinum elite status maybe with IHG, which is their second highest. I have that from holding the IHG1 Premier Rewards credit card. That name is not correct. I'm not 100% sure on the name, but I have the status from holding an IHG personal card. And I emailed them and they don't have connecting rooms. And if we want connecting rooms, uh, we have to go down a category from a pool view room to a garden view room. And I'm kind of like, oh, okay, like I don't know how much I care about the pool view versus the garden view. So then we're Googling, like, what's the difference? We're trying to watch YouTube videos about it. There aren't a ton of videos, but I do have a good idea of what the pool view room looks like. I couldn't find a good one that had like a garden view. The one that I thought might be good was all in like Russian or Ukrainian or something, and I couldn't understand a word. So Dwayne and I are trying to figure out like, do we care that it's considered like a downgrade? And I'm gonna use air quotes, even though you can't see me. I don't know that we do. I think that probably the connecting rooms is more important to me with our kids being so young and not wanting to split up, you know, Dwayne and myself. I just like it when we're all in one room or two rooms that connect. So probably we will accept the I'm gonna call it again a downgrade. Um, but I haven't decided yet, and so I haven't emailed them back. Um, and then I did the same thing for our other two hell hotels, which is the uh Hyatt Regency Kosamui, which we were able to confirm connecting room. So that's great. And then also the park high at Bangkok. The park high at Bangkok is where I puzzle pieced together a points room, and then I used four FHR credits from our MX Platinum cards from last year. And so I used uh one for Dwayne, one for me, one for Dwayne, one for me. So four reservations to cover the four nights to get our second room. And so I think out of pocket we'll end up paying uh it's like$300 maybe total for that second room after all the FHR credits. But I booked these last year, and the way that I booked it is our points room is a king bedroom. So logically, I booked a two-twin bedroom because I knew we would want them to connect. And typically those are the rooms that do connect. However, I have now waited this long and I emailed the property asking for connecting rooms, and the only rooms that connect, apparently, are a king bedroom and a king bedroom or a king bed corner room. So basically two king bedrooms, which I would not have guessed. So learn from my mistake, and I guess in the future, I would email them prior to booking to confirm because connecting rooms really are important to me. It is not a huge deal, but I don't love it. And so I'm a little bummed about that. I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do because the two twin bedroom is the room booked with all the FHR credits, and I cannot cancel it because I booked a refundable, uh, I'm sorry, I booked a non-refundable rate. So I'm feeling really frustrated at myself. And I especially because this is the park high at Bangkok. Like it's I want it to be this like incredible stay. And now I'm just feeling like maybe it won't be. And I've email I've emailed them twice asking, like, is there any room that connects to the two twin bedroom? Like, even if it's a suite, like I'll use a suite upgrade award. And they're just like, nope, the rooms that connect are the king bed and the king bed. And I'm like, how does that even make sense? But it's my fault. I should have asked first and I didn't. So again, learn from my mistake. Email the hotel first and ask them before you book something that's non-refundable. Um, so those that's like one of the hiccups is I'm I don't think I'm gonna be able to get connecting rooms at two of our three properties. Maybe the first one if I if we do the downgrade. The other thing that I need to do sooner rather than later is we are going to be bringing some ADHD medication into Thailand. And there is this similar to Japan, it is regulated. However, the one that my son takes, well, actually, the ones that both of my sons take are allowed, but one of them requires like a doctor's note. And so I called the doctor and left a voicemail last week stating that we need like a letter or something, like a doctor's note. Plus, we also need an extension of their prescription because we will run out in the middle of our trip. And this particular child needs this medication so that they do not um stir up their siblings to try to get a dopamine hit in their brain. And the medication helps them get that dopamine hit so that they can be calm instead of getting everyone riled up. So it is, um, I would say necessary on a family vacation where everyone wants to enjoy themselves, including the parents. And so we absolutely will be bringing the medication with a doctor's note. There is also a form you're supposed to fill out, and I have not done that yet. So I will be attempting that either tonight or tomorrow. And hopefully we'll get approval. But I'm bringing it with the doctor's note either way, unless they decline me. But if I don't get an answer before we leave, I'm bringing it. So that is that. Um, the other, oh, the other thing to keep in mind with medications is like I mentioned, the refill date. So we refilled this about a week ago, and it's gonna run out while we're there. So I also asked the doctor, you know, how can we get like a five or six or seven day supply filled before we leave through the insurance? It's a whole thing. So these are things to think about when you're gonna be gone for a few weeks and you if you have kids or maybe yourself that takes medication that really can't be stopped, or you don't want to stop it, you know, while you're gone. And then the last thing is there is a um like a Thailand digital arrival card that you have to fill out online and you have to do it within three days of your arrival. So probably a day or two before we leave is when I will fill that out for all five of us. Other things to keep in mind are like travel insurance. We have an annual travel insurance plan through Alians for the whole year for all five of us, and that is already in place. And um I'm not we're not gonna be getting any vaccines. That didn't even really occur to me until a few days ago, and so I don't think that we'll be getting any vaccines, but I guess you could. And the other thing I'll be doing is downloading the grab app because that is kind of like their Uber app over there, and so I do expect we'll be using that um here and there, if not quite a bit. Another thing to think about for any international trip is how you're gonna use your phone. So we have had good luck using the eSIMs from Aerilo, and that is likely what I will do again. This time it costs money, but it's not a lot, like maybe 20 bucks a person. There are ways that you can get a free e-sim through some sort of Visa credit card. Um, the data is limited, and basically the way that I understand it is you have to get a new one when you run out of data. I don't have the time or patience for that. I just want to get one and I want it to last me the whole time. So we will be doing Aero again for a um eSIM for our phones. Okay, so we've talked about kind of the organizational piece of the planning, right? So the trip is planned, but I I have now organized all the information into one spreadsheet that I can easily access at any time. Um, we've talked about the digital um uh whatchall it, digital thing you need to fill out a few days before you go. Um, I don't think I said this before, but your passport does need to have six months or longer before it expires from the time that you leave Thailand, right? So um it would really need for us, it would need to be six months and two weeks in order to be let in the country. Um, and so all those kinds of things. The next bucket, and I guess I kind of think think of that as like, I don't know, the the planning bucket, right? It's like the last pieces of the planning. Um, and then the next bucket is like, what does everybody need on this trip? And as a reminder, our kids are now 12, 9, and 6. They're growing very fast. And Thailand is a very warm climate. So I know that we need summer clothes and bathing suits, and I know that I likely need to buy new ones because all the ones from last year are gonna be too small. So I did a Walmart and Target order over the last week for all three kids. My oldest and my youngest are the ones who need the most clothes. My middle son has a ton of hand-me-downs from my oldest, and a lot of them are in really good shape, actually. So I don't tend to buy him as many things, um, but I did buy him some new swim trunks. I bought everyone swim trunks and bathing suits. And then I, for my my daughter, because she just had her birthday, I did buy her some new summer clothes, um, disguised as a birthday gifts. So that worked out really nicely, and some new bathing suits and shoes. And then for my oldest, I just he is 12 and all about just being comfortable. And he is growing like a weed. He's already taller than me. And so I just went and bought him a whole bunch of t-shirts and shorts from Walmart. And um, we're gonna give him some new shoes and sandals. So, not only do I need to think about clothes, but also shoes. And I try to bring a couple of different options of shoes, both for myself and for the kids, uh, mainly because if we're doing a lot of walking, I don't want them to get blisters, and that's what tends to happen if you wear the same shoe, you know, multiple days in a row. And then I also like sneakers for airplanes versus sandals for when we get there. And so I think on this trip, we're gonna do one pair of sneakers for each kid and then try to do at least two sets of different sandals for them, maybe a pair of Crocs and then something else. And then I always try to pack one nicer outfit, not fancy, but like, you know, something you could wear to a maybe a nicer restaurant, just in case. Just in case we decide to do that, you never want to be limited by your wardrobe there and so or anywhere. But Thailand, I think, is a pretty casual place in general. And so overall, it will be a fairly casual trip for us. We don't have anything super fancy planned, and we will be doing carry on only. We have five of the away larger carry ons. That when people say, How do you do carry on only? I have two there's two reasons and why we're able to. It one, it's that suitcase. I feel like I can fit a lot in those suitcases, even for myself. And then two, we do laundry. So I do anticipate doing laundry on this trip, or this is Thailand. So maybe Dwayne won't even have to go to a laundromat and maybe we can just pay to have it done. Like I would absolutely do that. So we will be doing laundry one way or another on this trip. And um we will report back as always. I have so many pictures of Dwayne doing laundry in like uh random countries, and it's something that we joke about at this point. Um, okay, so what else do we need? I talked about medication briefly. That would probably go in this bucket, actually. Um, and then I I'm thinking about for myself too, like what do I need to bring for myself? I ordered a couple new bathing suits on Amazon. Um, I tend to do a lot of Amazon ordering, and then whatever doesn't work or doesn't fit right or we're not keeping, I will just return. And I mean, I'm a busy working mom and I'm just I'm unlikely to be shopping in store, especially for myself. Like that just sounds exhausting to me. So I'm much more likely to order it online and then return it if it doesn't work. Because we are going to a warm climate, it's actually going to be fairly easy to pack everyone in carry-ons, I think, because the clothes are smaller. When we went to Europe last year for Christmas markets, that was a little bit more challenging. Um, because you know, pants and sweatshirts and sweaters obviously take up more space than like a tank top and shorts. Um, it is going to be hot and humid there. So I am trying to like focus on at least for myself, like linen and materials that are um gonna be cooling versus like you know, sticking to you. Okay, the next bucket, I would say, is setting everyone's expectations. And so I think that there is an invisible load that all moms carry. And if you're a mom, I think you can fully relate to that. And some of it I've already talked about, right? Like the medication and uh making sure you have enough and um like the connecting rooms and making sure you're coordinating that. And I mean, even things that we did that I didn't mention, like um the dog, right? I had to uh schedule the dog boarding and figure out when we're gonna drop the dog off and what do we need to bring for the dog, right? We need to make sure he has enough food for his stay and all that stuff. But then there is the setting expectations for everyone else because I planned this trip and I know what's going to happen, but it's very vague for everyone else in my household. Even Dwayne doesn't know all the details, right? So it's setting expectations of this is what's going to happen. We are going to leave our house with our suitcases and we're going to go to the airport and we're going to get on a plane and we're going to fly to San Francisco. We're going to stay overnight in the uh the Grand High at San Francisco, where we stayed last time. Remember when we went to Japan? And then we're going to get on a plane early in the morning on early-ish in the morning on Saturday. And we're going to spend all day on the plane. You're going to watch movies and play games on the plane. And then we're going to go to sleep on the plane. And when we wake up, we're going to be in Singapore. And then in Singapore, we're going to leave our plane and go to a hotel, right? And I'm I'm I'm walking through the whole trip like that. And obviously, they're not going to remember all of it, but I'm trying to set the expectations now. Um, because when eventually they will find out that we are going to be spending 17 hours on a flight from San Francisco to Singapore, and they're going to lose their minds, I think. Because if I'm being honest, when I was doing the planning sheet the other day and putting in like flight times and flight arrival times, when I saw 17 hours, I was like, oh my God. And then I was like, is that right? So then I Google the flight time. That is right. The longest flight I've ever done was around 15 hours, and it was from LAX to uh Hong Kong. And then on for I went on from Hong Kong to Bali, but and I was nervous at the time. It ended up being completely fine. And I, you know, was a mom of two at that point, and I actually loved it because I got to sleep for a good amount of time and I got to read a book and I got to watch movies and no one interrupted me. And I was like, this is amazing. Um, but I think my kids might have a different, they might have a different opinion. And so I just want to be really sure that I'm setting the right expectations. Um, one other thing that we we try to do this for every trip that we go on, and we just did this the other day for Thailand. Um, so my husband has a childhood friend from Japan who lives in Thailand, and we are going to meet up with him and his wife while we are there. Um, definitely in Bangkok, and I think also in Phuket. I think they're gonna come to Phuket, so that's gonna be great. Um, and in Bangkok, uh, Duane can clarify more on this, but I believe that they have like their own food stall or whatever in a market, and so they know the food scene in Bangkok pretty well, and so his friends sent us some videos to watch around different food in Thailand to try to get a feel for what types of foods we want to try while we're there. And so we sat down with the kids last night and we watched a few of these videos and are a little too, they don't, they're kind of like, yeah, whatever, we want to go play. And so they don't watch a ton. But my oldest loves food and is pretty into it, and so he likes to watch the videos and see the new foods, and you know, like we watched a guy eat um uh pork lungs, and that was like, oh, look, I don't know if we want to try that, but like it has a lot of Michelin stars, so then we're like, maybe we could just go and get one bowl and like we could all try it. And so we're we're trying, we try to watch these things with the kids, get their opinion so that they have buy-in, right? So they're like, Oh, yeah, I want to go try that thing that we saw in the video. And it's really cool, I think, to show them something on the TV and then be like, we can go there if you want, even though it is literally across the world. And so I'm excited for that. We watched a bunch of these videos and came away with, I think, a pretty solid idea of things we want to try and a few things that we don't. Like, I don't know that I want to eat like a whole duck. Um, I don't really enjoy duck. I have had it before. It's not really my jam, but like, would I try it in Thailand? Maybe, you know, I feel like you're more inclined to be more adventurous um when you're out of your out of your comfortable element. So this is how we try to set expectations beyond just talking, right? We look up YouTube videos, we try to show the kids, um, and then we also talk them through like, hey, we're gonna go to an elephant sanctuary, you know, and we're gonna do this and we're gonna do that. And so I think that managing everyone else's expectations really is key to having a successful trip. Because then when they're tired and they're you're in the middle of it and you're like, nope, we still have six hours to go until we get to our destination, they're frustrated, but they can be like, Okay, I remember you said this, like I remember. And so that is my, I think probably my best advice for traveling with kids of any age, as as soon as they're old enough to like understand you. Okay, so let me quickly recap my my buckets because potentially I rambled a little bit and I I am really trying to be more clear sometimes. So my first bucket is is you have the plan and you've done the plan and you've planned the whole trip for the last three, six, nine, twelve months. But now making sure that the plan is organized in one spot so that you can easily access it when you're on the trip, right? So confirmation numbers, flight details, hotels, transfer info, reservation numbers, tour bookings, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay. Oh, also always make sure you have pictures of your passports. Very important. Um things that other things that we're, you know, we're doing to prepare for the trip, right? Like getting your eSIM, getting your travel documents, any visas if you need them. Bucket two is what does everybody need for this trip? I don't actually buy things for Dwayne. That's I leave that up to him, but I handle this for myself and the kids. So not only types of clothes and shoes and sandals, but swim gear, making sure clothing is the right sizes, medications. Um, Dwayne will help pack their backpacks for the flight. So he'll do all the technology. So iPads charged, shows downloaded, all of that. Um one thing I maybe didn't mention, but is important here is the credit cards we'll be bringing and loading up the Charles Schwab checking account with money so that we can take out cash easily while we are abroad without any fees. Um, and then bucket three is setting expectations for everyone else. Um, I don't hear this talked about a lot on family travel or really any like points and miles travel podcasts. But if you are traveling with kids, then setting expectations for them, I think is absolutely key. And as a reminder, I planned this trip. They did not. They have no idea what to expect, right? They don't know what Thailand is. They're they don't know what that means. They don't know anything about the the climate or the food or anything. So we do all we can to set their expectations appropriately. YouTube videos, whatever, shows, podcasts, whatever, whatever we can do. Um, and then the fourth bucket I haven't really talked about or didn't talk about yet is like maybe, maybe this is a fourth bucket, maybe not. But I think preparing myself a little bit, right? Because as moms, I think we're always thinking about everybody else, or maybe not even as moms, but maybe this is just parents. I'm always thinking about like what do the kids need? And then it's like, oh yeah, wait, I also need a bathing suit, right? Or wait, I also need to get a new pair of sandals. So I think that preparing myself not only with just the things that I need, but more preparing myself to enjoy this trip, releasing control a little bit, letting things be imperfect, not overscheduling, and kind of remembering that spending time with our kids while they are young is kind of the whole point. And that is why we do this. And earlier at the beginning of this episode, I said I was also going to share some things that we're not doing. And here is the God's honest truth is that right now we are going for 12 nights in Thailand, not including, you know, the positioning flights there. And I have one thing booked, one activity, that is it for the whole time. I do have one other one that I think I'm going to book, but that is it. And that is, if you've been following us for a few years, I know I don't have every day planned, but I generally have three out of four days planned. And then we purposely leave a free day. And this is different. And it feels a little bit like, am I gonna miss out on something? Like, am I, you know, are we not gonna see everything? Like, I don't know. Um, but I am just kind of going with the flow. I desperately, desperately need a relaxing vacation. And I am really looking at at to this as being a relaxing vacation, even if we're gonna go halfway across the world to do it. So not over-scheduling is um, it's my thing for this trip. And obviously, you know that we will report back on how it goes. Um, but again, as of now, literally one thing booked, and that is it. And uh I have one other thing I think I'm going to book, and and that I think that's gonna be it. And we're just gonna go with the flow the rest of the time and kind of do what we want to do. So stay tuned on how that goes. Because if you can hear it, I'm a little bit panicked about it. But again, we are releasing control. We are going to enjoy this vacation, even if it's not planned every minute of every day. So that is where we are, folks. Um, two weeks out, deep in prep mode, trying to remember all the things and also just trying to enjoy the excitement of what's coming. I genuinely think that the anticipation of a trip is just as good as the trip itself. I also have thought that for my whole life. I love surprises and I don't ever want to know. Like for Christmas, I never want to know my gifts. I wanna, I want the anticipation and the the kind of the lead up to it. And I think that that is just as true for travel. And so I hope that this was helpful and relatable in some way. If you are gearing up for your own, you know, trip of any kind, international or domestic, I hope that it was helpful and maybe you gleaned a little bit of information or even just like a solidarity as like, yep, I'm in the chaos with you. Um, and I will obviously keep you posted as we go. And I'm really, really excited for all the trip recaps from Thailand. Um, before we sign off, I did want to say one other thing, or before I sign off, I guess it's just me today. Um, with regards to some stuff that's upcoming on the podcast, um, after we get back from Thailand, I do have a few guests that will be coming on over the next few months. It's just taken some time to be able to get to schedule them and record the episodes. And so that will be all happening after we get back from Thailand. And I do want to try to incorporate one guest a month, I think. That would be a really good cadence. Um, and I my goal is family travel and it doesn't have to be all on points and miles. So that being said, if you have a trip that you feel like you would love to come on the podcast and talk about, send me a DM on Instagram and let me know. Um, because I would love to have, you know, some listeners who have used points and miles, um, even just partially on a trip, doesn't it have to be um like I did everything with points, doesn't have to be that. Um, and matter of fact, I actually think it's more relatable when it's a little bit points and a little bit cash because I feel like that's how a lot of people travel, and not everyone is as insane as I am. So um let me know if you would love to come on the podcast and talk about a recent filming trip that you have done. I would love to have you do that. And um appreciate you just kind of hanging out, listening, bearing with us as we have been in a very chaotic season. And I don't know, maybe maybe it's just me, but maybe some episodes have felt a little bit um distracted or whatever. Um, if you are feeling that energy, you're not wrong. It's just been a very, very busy season. So appreciate you sticking with us. Really excited for what's to come, and I will catch you on the next episode.

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Bye.